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Last Updated: 7th May 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3CX has confirmed that SMTP support for legacy 2SC and 4SC Basic Free subscriptions will be discontinued from May 1, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This update brings older subscriptions in line with the current 3CX product structure. As highlighted in our previous blog, the newly reintroduced Basic Free edition no longer includes access to 3CX-hosted SMTP services<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What This Means<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Effective date:<\/strong> May 1, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Impact:<\/strong> Outbound email via 3CX SMTP will no longer function<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Action required:<\/strong> Customers must configure a Custom SMTP server<\/strong> to maintain email functionality (e.g. voicemails, reports, notifications)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 4th February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022The renewal functions can now be used to downgrade a license to a lower edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Only the edition can be downgraded. Simultaneous Calls (SC) remain unchanged and cannot be downgraded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022All downgrades are final meaning no refunds are issued and any previously available functionality that is not supported by the lower edition will be lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022If a license is downgraded to an edition that does not support 3CX Hosting (for example, 8SC Basic), any existing hosting validity will be removed from the subscription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 12th November 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We would like to inform you about following updates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.Max Subscription Years<\/strong> 2.Max Extensions – Added to Invoices<\/strong> Upcoming – This week<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.We’ll be extending all Free Standard 4SC\/2SC expiration dates to 31\/12\/2026. License keys owners will receive email notification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.We’ll be extending all SMB (Free) keys expiry to 31\/12\/2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 3rd November 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4SC Hosting Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Critical decisions were made in early 2025 to allow a smooth transition for all parties affected and at the same time allowed us to focus our marketing, development and support resources on mid size & larger installs and on customers who require professional telephony solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s new<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Alerts<\/strong>: There will be no further follow up alerts on a per instance basis for 4SC Hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Specific Hosting Support<\/strong>: You can no longer request specific hosting support for your 4SC instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Release Candidates<\/strong>: Automatically installed on 4SC Hosted licenses. This means that during the release candidate period you cannot move out of 3CX Hosting. Once the particular update is released, however, you will be able to move out of 3CX Hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3CX Enterprise AI Edition: Pricing Update & New Features<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 28th October 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Extension Fair Use Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3CX licenses are based on simultaneous calls (SC), not per-user fees. Most users follow fair usage, but about 15% exceed the recommended extension limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To keep pricing fair:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Only those exceeding limits will need to upgrade their license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Enforcement starts no earlier than April 1, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Refunds may be considered for multi-year licenses if criteria aren\u2019t met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This gives ample time to adjust or explore other solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n Last Updated: 6th October 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Legacy FREE 4SC dedicated editions on V20<\/strong>\u200b<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022These licenses will continue to work until the end of 2025 for up to 4 sim calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022In 2026 although still renewable, they will be limited to 2 sim calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 6th October 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Expiring 3CX Subscriptions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When your 3CX Subscription expires, your 3CX Phone System will effectively stop working<\/strong>. More specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u20223CX Phone System will only process ONE simultaneous call<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Hardphone BLFs will not register<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022SMTP messages cannot be sent<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022License Key page shows that the key is expired<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Mobile and Webclient PUSH will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Transcriptions will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Webmeetings will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Call scripts will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Data connectors will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Queues will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Recordings will be disabled<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data Deletion after Expiry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When your 3CX Subscription expires, your data will eventually be deleted. More specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u20225 days after expiry<\/strong> if your system is “Hosted by 3CX”<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2023Hosting services will be deleted<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2023Renewal after this time means that you will have to redeploy to a new (empty) instance<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2023You can only recover your configuration if you have retained your own backup<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u202230 days after expiry<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2023The license key will be deleted and will not be recoverable<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2023The system\u2019s FQDN will be deleted and will not be recoverable<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Updated: 16th June 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a licence key has expired, 3CX will retain it for 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After 30 days 3CX will delete it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will be notified on all 3 emails that are sent to partners, 30, 15 and 1 day before expiry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After 30 days if you wish to get the system back, they will have to start from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10th June 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4SC Enterprise – End of Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No new 4SC Enterprise licences are available to buy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any existing 4SC Enterprise licence keys due for renewal will either be renewed as a 4SC Professional or can be upgraded to an 8SC Enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 22nd May 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022No licence keys will be downgraded to either 4SC or 8SC<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022No licence keys hosted by 3CX, regardless of size, will be downgraded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022No licence keys will be downgraded if the number of users \/ extensions exceeds 5 x the licence size. E.g. 16SC X 5 = no more than 80 extensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Any issues arising from licence key downgrades will be charged at GBP \/ Euro \/ USD 250.00 per hour to investigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 29th April 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You cannot use an inactivated commercial license to replace an active license key. However, inactivated commercial keys can be used to replace a trial license. Simply put, only trial keys are replaceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 28th April 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3CX Trial keys are now 8SC Professional keys rather than 4SC Professional. They can still be upgraded to Proof of concept keys (Minimum 16SC). Trial keys are now only valid for 30 days. Existing keys are not affected by this change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4SC keys can no longer be hosted by 3CX. Existing 4SC keys hosted by 3CX can be renewed in the usual way and not affected by this change. However, if an existing 4SC key hosted by 3CX expires, this key will need to be upgraded to 8SC to recover the hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want a feel for our products? There are more videos available on our Yellowgrid <\/a>YouTube Channel. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Updated: 7th May 2026 3CX has confirmed that SMTP support for legacy 2SC and 4SC Basic Free subscriptions will be discontinued from May 1, 2026. This update brings older subscriptions in line with the current 3CX product structure. As highlighted in our previous blog, the newly reintroduced Basic Free edition no longer includes access […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10231"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10652,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10231\/revisions\/10652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowgrid.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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They’ve added a limit to how many years a key can be purchased and renewed for. It’s currently 3<\/strong>.
Released Today – Wednesday 12\/11\/2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
They’ve added Max Extensions in the SC dropdowns in the Partner portal for New and Renew forms. This has also been added to the invoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Reseller application \u2013 Click HERE<\/a> to apply
Looking for more information? No problem, contact us on 03330144340 <\/strong>or sales@yellowgrid.co.uk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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